OIFF BEST DIRECTOR INSPIRED BY DE PALMAGOLDBERGER'S DON MCKAY EVOKES COENS' BLOOD SIMPLE31-year-old Jake Goldberger's feature debut, Don McKay, won him the Best Director award at Cincinnati's Oxford International Film Festival this week. The film stars Thomas Haden Church (who also coproduced), Elisabeth Shue, and Melissa Leo. According to CityBeat's Jason Gargano, Goldberger told the audience at the OIFF postscreening Q&A that his inspirations for the film are Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple (that film's M. Emmet Walsh has a part in Don McKay) and early Brian De Palma films. Gargano calls those name checks curious, but The Envelope's Scott Feinberg, writing about the film after it played at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, said that Don McKay "is a mind-twister that fails to fall neatly under any traditional genre label -- it blends horror, romance, drama, comedy and even film noir in a way that is somewhat evocative of early Coen Brothers films such as Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing, if not nearly as polished." Sounds intriguing, to say the least. Gargano writes that the film should see a theatrical release later this year. Below is a clip, courtesy of Variety blogger Anne Thompson, who describes the film as a "twisty thriller."

SPEAKING OF BLOOD SIMPLEAccording to Screen Daily, Zhang Yimou will direct a remake of Blood Simple, which "will be set in a Chinese noodle shop in desert, rather than in a Texas bar."